Adamuz victims file a rail safety pact in Spain's Congress, asking parties to sign by 11 November

Pact proposal filed in Congress

The Adamuz victims' association has filed a proposal for a Pacto de Estado por la Seguridad Ferroviaria, la Atención a las Víctimas y la Justicia with the Permanent Deputation of Congress. Antonio Benítez Ostos, managing partner of Administrativando Abogados, which represents the association, submitted the document, and the association also sent it electronically to the leadership and general secretariats of every party with seats in parliament. The filing was made on 5 November. The association asked the Congress Mesa to forward the text straight away to all groups currently represented, arguing that parties must state their position urgently during the pre-election period.

Mario Samper, the association's president, said the group has no partisan aim.

“We have always defined ourselves as an apolitical association and have no interest in tipping electoral results toward one side or the other.”

Parties have until Wednesday, 11 November at 14:00 to return the signed Compromiso Público de Adhesión, and the association says it will publish how committed each party is that same day.

Three priorities for the next legislature

The proposal sets three priorities that the association wants adopted in the first 100 days of the next legislature. The first covers railway safety, including investment, prevention, network maintenance and a fully independent technical supervisory body. The second asks for a coordinated legal framework that guarantees medical, psychological, social and legal assistance after mass-casualty accidents. The third seeks agile and effective justice, with adequate court resources, access to information for victims and specialised tribunals for large accidents.

What investigators found at Adamuz

The technical investigation authority AITAT published a safety recommendation on 5 November. It concluded that a complete rail fracture on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line near Adamuz (Córdoba) remained undetected for 22 hours. A voltage drop on the track circuit was recorded at 21:47 on 17 January, just after Renfe train 2211 passed, and the reading stayed stable until the accident on 18 January. In that window, 47 trains from several operators passed the point, and several showed wheel marks consistent with the break. The cause of the fracture has not been determined because rail samples are still awaiting laboratory analysis. The AITAT wrote that the authority is demanding new detection measures from the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Ferroviaria (AESF) and Adif, stating that

“the existing installations do not guarantee the detection of this type of break.”

Death tolls and the Urda crash

The Adamuz collision between Iryo 6189 and Alvia 2384 killed 46 people, according to La Razón and El País. On 28 October, two trains from the same operators collided at Urda (Toledo) on the same Madrid-Seville line, killing 69 people. The investigation into Adamuz overlaps with the separate probe into Urda.

Adamuz (18 January)46

Urda (28 October)69

Adamuz (18 January)

46 deaths

Urda (28 October)

69 deaths

Data from the article text

Resignations and support for victims

El Mundo reports that Spain's transport minister and the president of Adif resigned in the days before the filing, both after the Urda crash. Samper told El Mundo that the resignations solve nothing and called for the presidents of the AITAT and the AESF to leave their posts, along with the managers under them. He also said an office for victims, created in 2013 after the Angrois crash, has not contacted Adamuz victims. More than a week after Urda, Samper said, Urda victims have received no call from that office. Vice President Carlos Cuerpo meets the victims on Friday, 6 November, according to El País.